After one game and two rigorous practices, it was clear to Randy Carlyle that the Toronto Maple Leafs had to be more conservative and get back to playing a skating game in order to be successful.

After his home debut Tuesday against Boston, it’s clear that Toronto’s new coach has a heck of a lot more work to do.

The Bruins spoiled Carlyle’s first game behind the home bench at Air Canada Centre with a 5-4 victory. Their top line of David Krejci, Tyler Seguin and Milan Lucic piled up four more points, giving them 18 in the four games since they were put together, and Jordan Caron had a career-best 3-point game after recording his first career two-point game in Sunday’s loss in New York.

“We need a lot of guys to step up right now,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said. “We’re battling some injuries, so we just need our team to really grind it out, understand that we may not have our full squad and from here on in it may be a challenge to win every game but this is what is going to build some character moving forward. I’m hoping we take advantage of the situation to do just that.”

It was a cringe-worthy type of game for the defensive-minded Carlyle. The former Norris Trophy winner watched the Leafs blow assignments in their own zone and leave goalie Jonas Gustavsson hung out to dry far too often. On top of it, the Maple Leafs, who are still 12th in the Eastern Conference, five points back of the idle eighth-place Winnipeg Jets with 16 games left, also lost Joffrey Lupul and Colby Armstrong to injuries.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2011020984&navid=sb:recap

Sabres edge Hurricanes in OT

Jason Pominville moved the Buffalo Sabres within two points of a playoff spot Wednesday night.

The Sabres’ captain scored on a power play 56 seconds into overtime to give his surging club a 3-2 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at the First Niagara Center.

Now 7-1-2 in its last 10 games, Buffalo (31-28-8) is just two points back of eighth-place Winnipeg in the Eastern Conference. Thomas Vanek and Tyler Myers also scored for the Sabres, while Ryan Miller made 22 saves.

“It’s huge. We’re making steps,” said Pominville, who also added an assist. “We’re playing better hockey. We’ve dug ourselves in a big hole that isn’t easy to get ourselves out of. But we believe.”

Jaroslav Spacek and Chad LaRose scored for the Hurricanes, 2-1-4 in their past seven games. Coming off a 4-3 overtime win at Washington, Carolina failed to win consecutive road games for the first time since October.

“Our guys, you can tell by the way we’re playing, we believe we can battle every night and keep picking up points,” Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller said. “We’re scratching and clawing for every point.”

The Sabres converted with Bryan Allen off for hooking, in a penalty called with 55 seconds left in regulation. Parked atop the left circle, Pominville took a pass from Christian Ehrhoff and blasted it inside the far post. Goalie Cam Ward appeared to be screened by defenseman Jay Harrison.

Buffalo was 2-for-7 on the power play, the first time the Sabres have scored twice on the man-advantage in 31 games.

On this day 10 days ago Marty Biron got his 2nd Straight Shutout with a 3-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. The night before Biron shutout the New York Islanders 5-0. Biron would make 26 saves on the night in the win. Sabres got goals from Brian Campbell, Chris Gratton, and JP Dumont. Biron finished his career with 18 shutouts in his Sabres career which ranks him 3rd all time in team history.